Homegrown garden yields four arrests in Anderson

ANDERSON - A 16-, 21- and two 17-year-olds were arrested on drug charges about 1 a.m. Saturday after police said the youngest was growing pot in his mother's apartment.

The 16-year-old, from Anderson, faces a charge of manufacturing marijuana, and his buddies were charged after police said they were allegedly smoking the fruits of their labor. Anderson police said the arrests were made at an Anderson Village apartment on Miracle Mile Drive.

The 16-year-old faces juvenile charges of manufacturing marijuana, operating a drug house and simple possession of marijuana. The others are charged as adults, records show.

The youngest teen's mother was not present at the time of the arrests, according to police.

Jaron Loskoski, 21, of Good Hope Church Road in Starr and Joel Turner and Barrett Baumann, both 17 and both residents of different apartments on Miracle Mile Drive, are each charged with loitering in a drug area, records show.

Monday in Anderson Municipal Court, Turner and Baumann each requested to enroll in pre-trial intervention. Loskoski, who had enrolled in PTI for a prior arrest, pleaded guilty to the loitering charge and was ordered to pay a fine of $570 or spend 30 days in jail.

Police seized an undisclosed quantity of marijuana, items used to smoke the drug and suspected "marijuana plants within the juvenile's room and in the common area of the kitchen," according to the incident report.